


Moving Forward, Coming Home

by navaan



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017)
Genre: Coda, Fix-It, Healing, M/M, Making Up, Mentor Tony Stark, Pre-Slash
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-31
Updated: 2018-03-31
Packaged: 2019-04-16 06:42:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,547
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14159043
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/navaan/pseuds/navaan
Summary: Tony is trying to put his life in order andlet go. Somewhere in between healing, being responsible, trying to keep a teenage superhero out of too much trouble and moving out of Avengers Tower, he and Steve exchange messages and things start to shift.





	Moving Forward, Coming Home

**Author's Note:**

  * Translation into Русский available: [Вперёд, домой](https://archiveofourown.org/works/14512881) by [Leshaya](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Leshaya/pseuds/Leshaya)



> This is my tribute fic or the _Spider-Man: Homecoming_ movie for Cap-IronMan MCU tribute project for the 10 Years of MCU celebration of the Cap-IM community.

For three weeks he slept on a hard cot in a temple in India and did what he had told himself he'd do: distance himself, come down, let go of hurt and anger, stop his thoughts from spiraling out of control, find his inner center, get a grip. People, especially the kind without problems, made that last part sound so fucking easy. 

Tony had discovered that it was anything but.

It was the letting go part that he'd always had trouble with.

All his life he had kept things close to heart; things his father had said and done, things false friends had tried to make him do, his parents' deaths, the rocky years after, Obie, Yinsen, Iron Man. And these were just the scars he'd gathered _before_ aliens had tried to invade the planet. 

Other people had traumatic experiences, while Tony collected world ending crisis scenarios now.

 _None of that made you come here though,_ he thought, sitting back in his near empty little temple cell. 

He was still angry. 

At Barnes. At his father. At Hydra. At all the truths that had been kept from him.

He couldn't even name it.

Couldn't name _him_.

But that was the first step to healing, wasn't it? Facing the truth.

He was fucking angry at _Steve_ for knowing and not telling; for protecting his best friend without regard to the high cost they'd all pay for it; for showing Tony exactly how much their friendship mattered to him when push came to shove. The apologetic letter hadn't done much to help Tony through the anger although he did in a weird way appreciate the gesture.

If he was truthful he'd have to admit that it wasn't just the betrayal that had cut deep, and it wasn't “just” that Rhodey would forever have to live with the injury he'd sustained.

Tony had felt cast aside and it had hurt - opening old wounds and making them worse.

He'd also been shown what it looked like when Steve put trust in you irrevocably.

 _Not in me,_ he thought with a jealous rising of angry hurt that if it had taken form would have put the Hulk to shame in all its giant green glory. _Never in me. I'm the one who gets gets doubted and challenged._

To remind himself of that fact he only had to think of Ultron and Steve's reaction to Tony's mistakes.

There it was again: the hurt. A wound so deep that at the beginning he hadn't thought it would ever heal. But here, away from it all, he realized that with distance the pain had slowly begun to subside.

_Huh, so that's what healing feels like._

* * *

He checked up on his Spider-Boy three times a week. Happy gave him the summary and sent over the accumulated messages whenever he asked for them. The boy was using his powers, but staying on his turf. That much was well and good. 

He also impatiently sent messages every free minute of his day and it was driving Happy up the wall.

“Tenacious,” Tony said and shrugged. He had been a terrible teenager. Peter was actually sweet as far as overeager teenage boys went.

“Annoying.” Even over the video call Happy looked sour.

“Teenagers.” Tony shrugged. “Just keep him out of trouble.”

“Right,” Happy said unconvinced and unhappy with the role of superhero babysitter.

“You've had years of training with me, Hap.”

“Pepper did most of the work.”

Tony laughed. “True, true.” And in the end he'd been too much trouble for her anyway.

Was that why despite all the hurt and regret, he had taken an old fashioned burner phone with him to carry it around in his pant pocket on his self-discovery trip? Because in the end only a few people could understand what all of this was like?

It was the simplest explanation and right now Tony favored simple explanations.

* * *

_You're selling the Tower?_ was what the first message read.

It had been four months since he'd seen Steve last and he'd been here finding himself for weeks. Two days ago he'd decided that he was no longer angry. Anger wasn't going to bring his parents back or repair the damage he'd done – or that had been done to him. It was time for the futurist to look to the future again – and move.

 _Yes,_ he typed back and hit "send" before he could add: _None of your business._

 _Not leaving New York?_ read another message hours later.

 _I'm not in New York,_ he typed with an exasperated frown.

This time he didn't have to wait for an answer. _Not what I meant._

 _I know,_ he answered and put the phone away. He didn't owe Steve any explanations.

* * *

Back at the new facility Tony put the phone back into the desk. And for a few days between putting the finishing touches on the new facility, selling Avengers Tower and having a few heart to hearts with Peter Parker, he didn't think of it once. Even for a week after he didn't waste a second to think of it, when he donned his sun glasses, put on a nice, but not too nice suit, and picked Peter up from his “after school activities”. 

“May knows,” the boy said after he'd led Tony through the streets of Queens to a little burger place that the kid swore had the best Chili Cheese fries. Tony didn't much care about where they were going. He only wanted to make sure the boy knew he could make his own mature decisions – and his own terrible mistakes - and Tony would in his very preoccupied way still have his back.

“Probably not a good idea if I talk to her,” he said and let the question mark hang unspoken in the air.

Peter winced a bit. “I think right now you might be the last person she wants to see around the house, Mr. S... Tony – or around the neighborhood. She's not on board with the whole superhero thing.”

After the last weeks and worrying that the kid was going to get himself killed, he understood her feelings on the matter perfectly. If he'd had a son and someone had involved them in a superhero conflict that against all his best guesses had gotten so far out of hand to destroy an airport (he was still paying for that one) and paralyze one of the people involved, Tony had a feeling he'd react the same way. Peter's very attractive aunt wanted what was best for her nephew and only few people thought Tony Stark was a good influence on anyone. 

“Point taken,” he said and watched the kid inhale half of his greasy bacon and cheese burger. 

Tony nibbled at the fries and had to admit they were delicious. 

“It's a big facility. The Avengers compound?” Peter remarked, oblivious to his own light-speed chatter. “Up there. Who else is there right now? You don't live there alone?”

A month ago hurt and resentment would have raised their ugly head right about now. Not anymore. “Me, Rhodey, Vision, sometimes Thor... There's a lot of room.”

“My teacher says Captain America is a war criminal now.” 

That too would have helped the green eyed monster of jealous rage to get a hold of him – but not anymore. The violent emotions brought up by hurt, abandonment issues and trauma no longer ruled him. “There's a warrant,” Tony admitted. “I know the media likes to call what went down there a war, but it's complicated. It was a super-escalated argument. Keep that in mind when you want to start an argument with your friends.”

“Okay,” Peter said and wolfed down the rest of his food, asking no more questions. “No arguing. Got it.”

* * *

In the evening, when he was back at his desk, he pulled out the phone and considered it.

 _Tower is sold_ , he wrote as if Steve didn't already know that. There was no answer, so he typed: _But there's room here if anyone should ever need a home._

Still no answer.

He put the phone down and wondered what Steve would read into the words. He regretted them already.

 _Do you mean that?_ Steve messaged back approximately 40min later and Tony rolled his eyes. Nothing he told Steve _ever_ remained unquestioned. There was no heat behind the thought now though and that was more important to Tony than what exactly Steve was thinking. He was ready to move forward indefinitely – and put the insulting old fashioned burner phone away until he needed the old man who had given it to him.

Just then another message came in.

 _Home's not a place. Let's meet,_ it said.

“Huh? Are you out of your mind? Aren't you afraid I'll have you put away forever?” Tony asked the empty room. 

He pondered his answer.

 _Burgers and fries? I know a place in Queens._

Apparently they were both out of their terribly brilliant and contrary minds.

Nothing new there.

This time the answer was immediate: _I'll be there._

He huffed and let himself fall back in his chair. “That easy? Do I have a date with a fugitive now?”

 _Okay_ , he typed.

Obviously, they were both out of their minds, but maybe there was something new there to explore too.

**Author's Note:**

> You can follow me for fic updates on [tumblr](https://navaanwrites.tumblr.com/) and [twitter](https://twitter.com/navaanwrites). This fic has a post on the tumblr [here](https://navaanwrites.tumblr.com/post/172446721894/moving-forward-coming-home-navaan-spider-man) in case you want to share it. It also has a page on my [Dreamwidth](https://navaan.dreamwidth.org/600493.html).


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